Driving Car, Driving Force, Girl driving Car, Driving Lessons

Driving Force Four-fifths of annual travel is by car
People in Britain made an average of 1,019 trips in 1999-2001, 7 per cent fewer than in 1989-1991.

On average we travelled 6,815 miles each year in 1999-2001, an increase of 5 per cent since 1989-1991, owing to the increasing length of trips, up from 5.9 miles to 6.7 miles.

In 1999 - 2001, four-fifths of the distance travelled was by car. This was an increase of 11 per cent during the 1990s.

Men make slightly more trips by car than women, and many more as car drivers. Almost half of all trips made by men are as a car driver, compared with only a third of trips made by women.

In 1999-2001 82 per cent of men aged 17 and over, held full car driving licenses, but only 60 per cent of women. Licence holding has increased rapidly among women, rising by over a fifth since 1989-1991. The proportion of men holding licences changed little during the same period.

The distance travelled on foot fell by 20 per cent during the 1990s to 189 miles per person per year, accounting for under 3 per cent of the total distance travelled.

Since 1989-1991 the proportion of primary aged children walking to school has declined from 62 to 54 per cent. There was an increase from 27 to 39 per cent in the numbers being driven to school. For secondary school pupils there was a similar, though smaller, shift from walking to car use, and a small increase in bus use.

Children aged 16 and under made half of their trips as car passengers, with most of the rest on foot (36 per cent). Women made 28 per cent of their trips on foot, compared with 24 per cent for men.

The distance covered by bicycle has also fallen in recent years from just over 41 miles per person per year in 1989-1991 to just over 39 miles in 1999-2001.

The peak age for bicycle use was 17-20 years. Men of this age made about four times as many bicycle trips as women. Even for this peak age, cycling accounted for only 4 per cent of their trips.

On average we spent about one hour a day travelling around Great Britain. 36 minutes (61 per cent) of this time was spent travelling by car and 11 minutes walking.

In the 17-59 year age group, men made 27 per cent of their trips commuting to and from work, with an additional 7 per cent travelling in business. For women only 19 per cent of trips were to and from work and 3 per cent on business.

Of the cars on the road 60 per cent had only one occupant. For commuting and business travel the rate was 84 per cent.